Sweet Bliss of Childhood
by Scarlet1474
Summary: Companion story to my other fic A Promise Never Kept. A series of sweet and small one-shots of Percy and Annabeth's childhood in San Francisco. Starts with their first meeting leading up to Percy's disappearance. Warning: AU/No Gods
1. Making a Friend

**Hey Guys,**

**So, as I said in my Author's Note yesterday, I am doing a little tweaking with the timeline of my stories to make it fit better. Hence it will take longer for me to update the chapters but it's necessary if I want to make my story the best that I could. So, meanwhile I will write a series of small one-shots about Percy and Annabeth's life in San Francisco. Starting from their first meeting (which is in this chapter) and ending with Percy's disappearance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the mean bully, his lackeys and Principal Turner. The rest all belong to Rick Riordan.**

**P.S: All the chapters will be Annabeth PoVs. Unless it is a scene where Percy's PoV will be more appropriate that is. **

* * *

As I sat on the small stone bench reading mu book, the other kids ran around creating havoc. It was my second day of first grade and just like yesterday no one had wanted to talk to me. When I had tried to talk to some girls they had called me a freak because I read books and knew the answer to all the questions the teacher had asked. I had thought that was mean and when I told them so they just laughed and shunned me away.

So, instead of trying to make friends I sat alone and read my book. I was so subdued by the story that I didn't notice the group of boys until they were towering over me. Before I knew what was happening one of them snatched the book fro my hands and I looked up.

"Hey Blondie." The meanest looking one who stood right in front of me said.

"My name is not Blondie it's Annabeth and I would prefer it if you didn't call me that." I said trying to sound more confident than I was. After all these boys were third graders.

"Looks like we have got a smarty pants with us today." He sneered. I cringed, looking around desperately for a teacher but saw none.

"Can I please have my book back. I just want to read by myself."

"I don't think so." He said taking the book from his friend. "Hmm Peter Pan huh." He said reading the title.

"It's my favorite book. It's a very nice one too."

"Oh is it?" He asked and I nodded. "Maybe I should take it then."

"B-but it's mine." I said nervously.

"But since it's your favorite you must have already read it once so you don't really need it do you."

"I-I p-please give it back." I said slightly teary eyed.

"Aww does wittle Annie want her book back?" I nodded. "Too bad she can't have it."

He opened the book and was about tear it apart when someone yelled from behind him.

"Hey!"

The boys turned and I saw a raven haired boy that I remembered was in my class.

"You should give her her book back and leave her alone." The kid said. I was confused. Why was this kid helping me? Did he have a death sentence. There was no way he could fight them.

"Who's gonna make me? You? A kindergartner could take you down and you wanna fight me."

"I just didn't want you to get into trouble but if you guys want to get detention then be my guest." He said and started to leave but bully stopped him.

"What do you mean?" He asked the kid.

"Just that Principal Turner is on rounds for some reason and he doesn't seem to be in a good mood." Replied the kid.

The boy threw my book on the ground at my feet and he and his lackeys quickly left. I picked my book up and brushed the dirt off of the pages.

"You okay?" The kid asked walking up to me.

"Th-thanks. Is Principal Turner really on rounds?" I asked curiously.

"Nah" He replied with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "But they don't need to know that now do they. I am Percy, Percy Jackson."

"Annabeth Chase." I said smiling. I couldn't help but feel really happy because I had finally made a friend and I didn't know it yet, but he was the best friend I could possibly ask for.

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**So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Cliche?**

**Tell me via review.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**-Scarlet**


	2. Of Best Friends and Beaches

**Hey Guys,**

**Here's the second one-shot. This takes place a few months after the last one. In this one Percy and Annabeth are going to the beach with Sally. It's in Annabeth PoV just like the last one.**

**Disclaimer: Since I am a fifteen year old Indian girl and not Rick Riordan, I think it's safe to say that I do not own these characters whatsoever.**

* * *

I sat in the back seat of Sally Jackson's car with Percy beside me talking animatedly about his favorite place in the world-the beach. He told me about all the fun things we could do at the beach all the sandcastles we could built, the sea shells we could collect, the water fights we could have. As I sat there listening to him my excitement grew.

I had only gone to the beach a couple times with my dad but that had been a while ago before he had remarried and I had never actually enjoyed it. Probably because all I ever did was make sand castles by myself. But now when I thought about all of the things Percy was planning for us to do I felt excited because I had someone to do these things with and so it had to be fun. Right?

Percy was talking really fast about the time when he had gone to the beach with his dad last year and all the fun things they had done. I was confused as I had never seen Percy's dad. Actually this was the first I had heard about him. So I asked

"How come I've never met him?" Which I realized was the wrong thing to say as his face fell and he quieted down.

"He lives in New York and he is very busy so he can only visit a few times a year. But when he does we have a lot of fun and he always gets me really awesome presents too."

I wanted to ask why his dad lived so far away and why they didn't live with him but I knew that I shouldn't ask. So I didn't. Instead we started talking about cartoons and movies and school for the rest of the way.

* * *

"...and done!" I said as I placed the last sea shell on Percy and my sand castle which was huge with loads of towers and pretty sea shells decorating the walls.

"Mom!" Percy called out to Mrs Jackson who was sitting on a blanket a little way away snapping pictures of us. "What do you think?"

"I think it's amazing sweet heart. How about you play in the water for a bit now, just don't go too deep okay?"

"Okay cool. Come on Annabeth." He said grabbing my hand and dragging me with him. As we reached the water he let go of my hand, scooped some water on his palm and splashed me.

"Percy!" I shrieked "Don't do that."

"What is little Annie scared to have a water fight?" He teased.

"Don't call me Annie and I am not scared to have a..." He splashed me again.

"Oh you are so dead." I said and splashing him. He just laughed and ran away. We splashed each other for a while when he suddenly stopped and bent down to pick something off of the sand.

"What happened?" I asked curiously as I ran up to him.

"Nothing." he said quickly but I could tell he was lying before I could do anything though Mrs Jackson called out to us.

"Percy, Annabeth I got some ice cream." She told us showing us the three cones the she held in her hand. We ran to her and she gave us the chocolate cones and told us to sit down to eat.

We sat in silence for a while, happily eating our ice creams. All of a sudden Percy broke the silence.

"Hey Annabeth," He said turning to me.

"Hmm" I said.

"I wanna give you something." With that said he held out his hand and opened it to reveal the most beautiful shell I had ever seen. It was as big as Percy's whole palm and had green waves on it. I took it from his palm and examined it.

"Oh Percy it's beautiful but why are you giving it to me?"

"Because you're my best friend my only friend and I want to say thanks."

"For what?"

"For being my friend and not thinking I'm a freak like everyone else."

I hugged him and gave him a small kiss on his cheek.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"That was my thanks for being my friend." He smiled and we returned to eating our ice creams in silence. But I couldn't help smiling. I had a friend and even though we were both outcasts at least we could be outcasts together.

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**So, what do you think?**

**Let me know via review. **

**Also if you guys have any great ideas for the next one-shot feel free to share them with me.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**-Scarlet.**


	3. Blue Food Real or Not Real?

**Hey Guys,**

**I am back with another little one-shot. This one tells you how Blue Food came to be in my AUverse. This one takes place during Percy and Annabeth's summer break just before their second year. I hope you like it. Enjoy.**

* * *

I was spending the weekend at Percy's house. It was a hot summer day and we were lazing out in the backyard under the shade of a huge tree eating chocolate ice-cream. He said it was his favorite food, well second favorite after pizza of course.

Inside, Sally-Percy's mom-was chatting with Mrs Stewart from across the street. She said it was adult-talk meaning it wasn't for our ears. Percy had wanted to listen in but I told him it was rude to eavesdrop and suggested we eat ice-cream in the backyard instead. He was happy to oblige after I mentioned ice-cream.

It had been really quiet for a while when suddenly we heard shouting from inside. Percy and I stared at the house for a moment then turned to each other.

"Now, can we listen in?" He asked very innocently. Now, I am not an eavesdropper as I mentioned before but I was curios. I had never actually ever seen Sally fight with someone. She was just always so calm and controlled that I was intrigued as to what could possibly be going on inside that house. Weighing the pros and cons for a moment I finally nodded.

Percy grinned and dragged me towards the house. We crept inside through the backdoor and made our way silently across the kitchen to the hallway. The living room was just in front of the stairs so we sat with our backs against the wall so as not to get caught by the two shouting women. Now that I could hear them clearly I was even more confused than before.

Back when Mrs Stewart had first arrived Sally had told us they were going to be talking about grown up things but from what she could make out, they were having a shouting match on the existence of blue food. Did adults seriously talk about stuff like that.

"There is no such thing, Sally!" Shouted Mrs Stewart for the thousandth time.

"Yes there is!" Protested Sally for the thousandth time. It went on like that for quiet a while until-to the our disappointment cause we were actually enjoying listening to the 'conversation'-Mrs Stewart left, still extremely angry.

"You two can come out now."

"What! How did you know we were here." Percy said standing up. "I-I mean we weren't eavesdropping."

"You should know better that to lie to me Perseus Jackson."

"I am sorry Sally we were just curious, it won't happen again. I promise." I said giving her an innocent look that Percy had taught me. Her anger seemed to melt and she said..

"It's okay I forgive you two, I would have been curious too. But just this once. I better not catch either of you doing that again. Understood."

We both nodded.

"Mom can we please bake cookies?" Percy asked.

"Sure. But how about we make Blue cookies this time?"

"Blue cookies." Percy gave her a questioning look.

"Yeah, haven't you heard it's the most delicious and awesome type of cookie ever. So what do you say wanna help me make the most awesome cookies you will ever taste?"

"Yes!" We both said at once.

* * *

An hour later Percy and I sat on the kitchen counter watching as Sally put some of the cookies in a plastic box and waited for the freshly baked cookies to cool off.

"Who are those for?" Percy asked.

"Mrs Stewart of course." Sally answered grinning. "Now the two of you can have some but don't have too many or you will spoil your appetite. We both grabbed a cookie each and Percy munched his loudly, sighing in satisfaction.

"You were right mom these are the best cookies ever." He said grabbing another one. And as I bit into mine, with the chips melting in my mouth and the amazing taste making me fall in love with it, I couldn't agree more.

* * *

**So, what do you think?**

**Let me know via review. Also if you have requests for one-shots feel free to PM me.**

**Till next time.**

**-Scarlet.**


	4. Wise Girl's Seaweed Brain

**Hey Guys,**

**This one is really short but it's pretty cute, I hope. This one is where they give each other their personalized nicknames for the first time. So, enjoy.**

* * *

"...and then you subtract this from that and voila." I said as I explained to Percy how to do his Math Homework for the tenth or so time. However many times I explained it to him, he just never seemed to get it.

He would blame it on his ADHD and Dyslexia but I had those too and I fared pretty good. So I guess I didn't really see it as a good excuse. Though I had to admit his ADHD and Dyslexia were a thousand times worse than mine.

Percy frowned and scrunched his eyebrows together, concentrating on the problem as if it was life and death. Though even that wasn't enough as five minutes later he groaned and put his pencil down with much more force than was necessary. His expression morphed from one of concentration to that of utter frustration.

"Can we take a cookies break?" He asked, making his puppy dog face.

"No, we had one like fifteen minutes ago." I replied giving him my stern face.

"How about a _Blue_ cookie break then?"

"No, we had that fifteen minutes ago." I insisted.

"Please." He pouted and it was really hard to say no because he looked so cute. But I steeled myself and said

"No Percy you need to finish your homework. Maybe later we can have more cookies."

"Fine." He said in a disappointed tone and went back to work on his math problems.

We spent the next five minutes working in silence until Percy broke it yet again.

"Um Annabeth, how do you do this one again?" I looked at his notebook and sighed as I saw which sum it was.

"Percy, you have to do it just like you have o do all of the others." I sighed in frustration.

"Which is..."

"Come on Percy, you can do it if you just use your brain a little. Why don't you?"

"But it's hard Annie!" He complained.

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"IS NOT!"

"IS SO!"

"The problem's not hard you just don't have a proper brain because it's too full of seaweed to function."

"My brain is not full of seaweed!" He protested.

"Yes it is! You're a complete idiot you Seaweed Brain!"

"And you are a know-it-all you-you-Wise Girl!"

"Percy that's not an insult." I told him.

"Oh well, see that's why you're a Wise Girl."

That was when we started laughing and we laughed until our stomachs hurt. Then we went back to studying. Five minutes later thought Percy groaned yet again.

"Annabeth, how do you do this one again?"

I merely shook my head and showed him how to do the sum. Percy sure was a Seaweed Brain but he was my Seaweed Brain and I was his Wise Girl.

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**I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think via review.**

**Till next time.**

**-Scarlet**


	5. Of High School English Teachers

During the winter break of our third year Sally told us some unexpected but amazing news-she was dating someone. I had noticed a slight difference in her over the past few weeks. She had been much happier she'd let us eat more cookies than usual, let have ice-cream more often, even let us stay up a bit longer than our bed times once.

So I had obviously expected something was going on. Now that I knew what it was I was really happy for her. Percy on the other hand was conflicted. He was happy that his mom was happy but he was also sad because she was replacing his dad.

Percy had never said it out loud but it was obvious that he wanted his parents to get back together. But now that his mom was with someone else that dream was shattered. I guess his bewildered reaction to the news of a possible step-father to be was expected.

I really couldn't blame him for being scared about it. I had told him about my new step-mother and none of them good things either, there was nothing good to say about her anyway. Plus he'd seen how she treats me first hand a couple times too. So, he was pretty wary of the idea.

"Look Perce" I told him when he voiced his worries. "you should wait till you have met the guy and if he is like my step-mom we can just tell Sally so. Who knows he might just be a really good guy and you might like him a lot."

"You're right Wise Girl."

"Aren't I always."

"Don't get cocky."

"Whatever Seaweed Brain." I said and we laughed our fears melting away.

* * *

"Um Hi, I am Percy." Percy said as he shook hands with the man with salt and pepper hair.

"Hi I am Paul, Paul Blofis." The man said.

"Blowfish?" Percy questioned with a slight twinkle in his eyes. He did love fishes or anything related to the ocean that is.

"No" Paul shook his head smiling "Blofis."

"Oh okay." Percy said as his excitement dulled a bit.

"Hey I am Annabeth, Annabeth Chase. Percy's Best Friend." I said shaking his hand. "I am the smart one."

"Hey!" Percy protested while Paul just chuckled.

"You know I am right Seaweed Brain."

"Whatever Wise Girl." Percy said.

Paul looked at the two of us and then at Sally who was standing in the doorway.

"Are they like this often?"He asked her.

"All the time. You get used to it." Sally answered and Paul laughed.

"Mom can we have dinner now?" Percy asked jumping up and down.

"Just a bit more Percy. Why don't you and Annabeth hang out with Paul until it's ready?"

"Um Okay."

We all sat down on the couch and for the next few minutes there was an awkward silence until Percy-that guy couldn't sit still to save his life-decided to break it.

"So Mr Blofis-"

"Please call me Paul."

"-Um okay, Paul, what do you do?"

"I am a high school teacher."

"Oh really" I spoke up suddenly interested "Which subject do you teach?"

"English Literature."

"That's nice. Though I don't like English very much."

"Why is that? It's a wonderful subject." He inquired.

"We're both dyslexic." Percy explained. "When we try to read, the letters just fly off the page and start dancing. It's really irritating."

"Oh I didn't know that."

"It's okay."

"How about I help you guys with reading? I am sure with a little practice it won't be too big of a problem."

Percy and my eyes widened. "You would do that?" He asked.

"Of course. I have worked with Dyslexic kids before, you'll be reading properly in no time."

"Thanks so much." I told him for both of us.

"It's no problem."

"Dinners's ready!" Came Sally's voice from the kitchen.

"Food!" Percy screamed and ran to the kitchen. Paul and I laughed a little and then got up to follow him to the kitchen.

The rest of dinner was spent making small talk and enjoying the delicious food Sally had prepared. It was no longer awkward and even the silence was comfortable.

That moment was like a fairy tale one for me. A fairy tale where I had a normal family.


	6. This Is It

**And there you have it the final one shot, also the prologue of A Promise Never Kept. I hope you liked it.**

* * *

"Hey Wise Girl, what happened?" My best friend since first grade-Percy Jackson-asked looking at me as we walked to our separate buses. He was a scrawny kid, a little shorter than me and had messy raven black hair and beautiful sea-green which were always filled with warmth and happiness.

"It's nothing." I said trying to act casual.

"Now Annie don't you dare lie to me." He said standing in front of me and looking me straight in the eye.

"It's just... Helen hates me and she never let's me hang out with Bobby and Matthew, who ignore me like the only Gods know why. To top it all off dad hardly ever spends any time with me anymore. I feel like an outsider in my own home, like they don't want me there and sometimes I wish I wasn't, sometimes I just feel like running away you know. Go somewhere far away from here and just disappear. I mean it's not like anyone's gonna miss me."

"Hey, don't ever say that because it's not true, okay. Because I will always care for you and I'll always be there when you need me. Your mom might have abandoned you and your dad might not care for you but I always will."

"Are you serious."

"Yes." He answered easily.

"Then promise me that you'll never leave me, that you will always be here for me."

"Isn't that what I just said." He said cockily. "But yeah I promise Annie."

"Don't call me that, Seaweed Brain."

"Whatever you say Wise Girl. Just don't go running away though, who'll save me from the bullies and help me with homework if you do." With that he ran off to his bus and I boarded mine, having no idea that this might just have been the last time I ever saw my Seaweed Brain.

* * *

**And close curtain.**

**-Scarlet**


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